


finding a family somewhere in the ruins

by Duck_Life



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Birthday Party, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, Gen, Mentions End of Greys, Tragedy, Uncanny X-Men: Winter's End, anybody remember gailyn and joey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 20:45:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18106130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Bobby talks to Jean some more as his birthday party winds to a close. She's taking the influx of her younger self's memories pretty hard.





	finding a family somewhere in the ruins

“If I were going to rewrite the universe,” Jean says, “which I totally  _ can _ do but I’m not going to— I’d make it so you got to do everything on your own terms.”

Bobby rolls his eyes, ducks his head. She’s such a weirdo sometimes. “It’s in the past,” he says. “Like, as ‘in the past’ as physically possible.”

“Yeah, but it’s… you know how it is,” Jean sighs, sipping her sambuca. “The memories are all fresh.”

“Yeah.” Bobby clinks his mudslide glass against her tumbler. Turns out after nine, Java A-Go-Go serves pretty decent grown-up beverages. That’s new, and it’s an improvement. This place has changed about as much as he and Jean have. Coffee A-Go-Go turned into a sushi joint, then an Asian fusion restaurant, then a smoothie bar, and then ultimately back to a coffee shop. “Hey,” he says, “... did you know? When we were kids… the first time around, I mean.”

“Did I know about you?”

“Yeah.”

“... Yeah.”

“Oh.” Bobby sips his drink.

“Not when we were kid-kids, of course. But… a little before Krakoa. Yeah, I knew,” Jean says, dragging a fingertip around the rim of her glass. “I wasn’t going to force it, or bring it up or anything. I knew that you knew that I was always there if you wanted to talk.” 

“I did almost tell you once,” Bobby says. “Almost. The night we were at the bookstore.”

“Oh, right,” Jean says, smiling a little. “When I was shopping for a book… for…” Her face clouds over. Gailyn’s and Joey’s deaths are still fresh wounds for her— maybe they always will be. They were her niece and nephew, and the Shi’ar killed them just as mercilessly as they killed the rest of the Grey family. “Anyway. You thought about telling me then?”

“It was… I dunno. It was quiet, I felt… safe, I guess.” He shrugs. “But, obviously, you know, I didn’t. I didn’t do it.”

“Well, we got interrupted,” she points out. “By Baby You.” 

“Ha, that’s right,” Bobby says. “X-Baby Iceman was baby me before being baby me was cool.” His neglected drink is beginning to melt. Bobby frosts it up with a quick zap. “Still. We got interrupted that night, but there were, like, a million times I could’ve told you and didn’t. I could’ve told  _ anybody _ . Rogue and I spent like a month on the road together, but I didn’t even try to bring it up.” He finds himself staring up at the ceiling instead of at Jean. “I was angry. I’m still angry, really, at how it all played out. At what you— she— did to me. But then I think, if it hadn’t happened the way it happened, it never would’ve happened, you know?”

Jean makes a frustrated noise, and he looks back down to see her with her head in her hands. “She wasn’t ready for that level of telepathy.  _ I _ wasn’t ready. I had the raw power and  _ none _ of the training or etiquette or  _ ethics _ . Emma tried to teach me— I remember all that now, and lemme tell you it is  _ weird _ — she tried to teach me, and it was just… in one ear and out the other. It was like I decided I knew better than everyone what was private information and what wasn’t.” 

“You were a kid,” Bobby says gently.

“So were you,” Jean retorts. “And I…” She sighs, rubs her eyes. “I was angry at Charles, for a long time, for keeping the full extent of my abilities a secret from me. But now I get it. Locking away my telepathy until I was mature enough to handle it… it was the  _ right _ thing to do.” 

“If you’re defending the Prof then I  _ know _ you’ve had too much to drink,” Bobby says lightly, pushing what remains of her drink away from her. 

“I just… I’m sorry,” she says, shaking her head like she can shake away several lifetimes of drama and disaster. “I’m making it all about me. Tonight it supposed to be about you. I’m sorry.” 

Bobby glances at his watch. “It’s after midnight. It’s not my birthday anymore,” he says. “So it can be a little about you, Jeannie.” 

“Oh, no, c’mon, I…” She rubs a hand over her mouth, like she’s trying to hold back a million different things she wants to say or scream or shout or ask. “I mean, it’s like. When I was a kid,  _ all _ I could think about was  _ more _ ,  _ more _ ,  _ more _ , how to be stronger and faster, getting more and more powerful. And I, I… it wasn’t  _ me _ , really, but the Phoenix, she ate a whole goddamn sun because she needed  _ more _ . I was like a bulldozer, my whole life, just… speeding on ahead. And now…” One hand flutters by her eyes, and Bobby realizes she’s wiping away tears. “Now I’m finally getting a chance to look  _ back _ and I’m seeing everybody that I’ve bulldozed over. You. Scott. Emma. Madelyne… And my whole family is dead and I just…” 

She lets out a choked sob and stops talking. Bobby tries patting her on the shoulder, completely at a loss.

Fortunately, he’s not alone. As soon as Jean starts full-out crying, Ororo and Rogue swoop in to hover over either side of her, murmuring assurances and stroking her hair. “We’re here,” Ororo says, leaning closer to Jean.

Bobby watches them, two of the most important people in his life leaning in to comfort a third. They’re doing a better job than he would. That means he can duck out. Ororo and Rogue have given him an out, and he doesn’t have to keep standing here and trying to help Jean. He could go catch up with Kitty or Simon or Johnny, walk away from this.

It’s after midnight, which means it’s not his birthday anymore, which means technically he’s supposed to be older. 

And maybe, for once, he actually feels like following his dad’s advice— Do tomorrow like you could have done today better. He’s another year older. Maybe he’ll do this next year better than the last. 

“It’s okay, Jeannie,” Bobby says, standing beside Rogue and putting a hand on Jean’s elbow. “I’m here.” 


End file.
